Currently, there are numerous possible configurations for avionics racks, or electronic equipment racks in general, of which three main types are usually encountered.
In simple terms, an electronic equipment rack is made up of a mechanical structure comprising a motherboard, electronic equipment handling a set of functions and combined under the designation of function modules, and interface elements allowing for the link with an environment, for example the rest of the aircraft in the case of an avionics rack. Such electronic equipment generally comprises boards or “single replaceable units” (SRU). An electronic equipment rack also comprises internal connectors enabling the motherboard, the electronic equipment and the interface modules to be interconnected, and external connectors enabling the link with the environment of said rack. There is generally a side of the rack that is easily accessible; this side is called the front panel of the rack. From this side, it is usually possible to access the function modules and work almost directly on the electronic equipment or SRUs. The opposite side, generally difficult to access, is called the rear panel of the rack.
Whatever the chosen configuration in the current state of the art, major drawbacks emerge, notably making the maintenance of these racks difficult. There are various such defects generally encountered:                need to introduce interface elements within the function modules, and therefore the electronic equipment: this leads in fact to the at least partial loss of the possibility of using COTS-electronic equipment because, notably in the case of an avionics rack, the interface modules are specific to each aircraft,        need to disconnect the rack from its environment to access the electronic equipment, despite the fact that the maintenance operations performed thereon are generally frequent,        external connectors situated on the rear panel, and therefore generally difficult to access,        need to dismantle the complete rack to access the interface modules, making a maintenance operation of this type lengthy and complicated,        great depth of the rack (distance between the front panel and the rear panel), corresponding to a topology that is ill suited in particular to areas along the sides of the aircraft.        
Defects in the non-exhaustive list above make it necessary to search for an optimum configuration for the electronic equipment racks: such is the subject of the present patent application.